Gunboat.

This is coolbert:

That gunboat from the time of the pre-Dreadnought era until the advent of the anti-ship missile robustly fitted with an organic firepower [big bore naval guns] beyond which I had thought was normal. Gunboats ["Mighty Mites"] the mission of which was not naval warfare of the conventional kind, warship versus warship using naval gunfire during mano-a-mano mortal combat. The gunboat intended to support either amphibious landings or direct naval gunfire against INLAND TARGETS!!

Gunboats with a pelagic [deep water] sailing capability but the mission of which was primarily as littoral [green water] vessels, coastal hugging!! Known by a variety of terms - - gunboat, aviso, sloop, frigate, corvette [modern terminology]!!

* "An aviso . . .  a kind of dispatch boat or advice boat . . . 'small boats designed to carry orders or advices'."

* "They [gunboats] had limited capacity to combat other surface vessels, as they were intended, mainly, to support amphibious operations and troops on land."

* "A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or"

That modern American DDG-1000 destroyer the mission as envisioned for the warship very similar to the gunboat of a not so distant past..

Here with images of gunboats from the pre-Dreadnought era until the time of the anti-ship missile.

 French gunboat from the era just prior to the Second World War [WW2]:  Armament: 3 x 138mm guns model 1927 (single mountings)

Portuguese gunboat from the post WW2 era: armament: 4 x 120 mm guns.

Dutch gunboat performing ably in combat during WW2:  Armament: As built : • 3 × 5.9 in (150 mm) guns

American gunboat circa 1930's:  Armament: 4 × 6 in (150 mm)

German gunboat of the pre-Dreadnought era:  Armament: 2 × 105 mm (4 in) L/40 SK guns 

British WW2 gunboat of the "Insect" class:  Armament: As built: 2 × BL 6 inch [155 mm] Mk VII guns

That modern American DDG-1000 destroyer the mission of which seems to be very similar to the gunboat of yore [bombardment of inland targets] of course much more robustly armed and capable. Those dual 155 mm AGS complemented with tactical Tomahawk, SUBROC and surface-air-missiles that mix of which is task tailored!! Plus netcentric capability allowing for over-the-horizon surveillance and target acquisition, that AGS able to fire precision guided munitions on demand!!

What was once is again but even more so!!

coolbert.